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Thursday, October 26, 2017

From David P. Morgan's Trains Magazine in February 1963, a poem from what was the already fading era of steam by William F. Bradbury, titled...

The Express Passes

The original as it appeared in Trains

Dim in the distance a waver of light,A murmur, a hum, a confusion of sound,The shriek of a whistle far-piercing the night,An electrical throbbing and thrill in the ground;A widening glare o'er the glittering snow,The fire from a flaming red orb of an eye,A roaring and rumbling that gather and grow,A vomit of rolling black smoke to the sky;A singing of steel, and a crashing of crank,A hissing of steam shot out in a blast,A whistle's hoarse scream, and the iron's harsh clank,And the huge, swaying monster goes thundering past!A swirling of snow in a fine, stinging spray,A buzzing of rails, growing fainter -- now gone,The clang of a bell dying quickly awayA glimmer of light, and the train rushes on.

-- William F. Bradbury

What a vivid picture! Whether through the mountains or rolling out on the plains, this prose is a clear reminder that such beasts roamed the rails of Colorado and the nation in ages past.⚒

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Welcome to Colorado Railroads, a site for the fans of past and present railroads serving the Centennial State in the USA. Its editor is a Colorado native, whose fascination with trains started at age 5 in Durango with the smell of creosote, sweat, steam, and coal smoke, the sight of a headlight and smokestack down the tracks, and the sound of an engine whistle echoing off canyon walls. The question isn't "What's so fascinating about Colorado's railroads?" It's "How could anyone not be captivated by such a beautiful and rich experience?" more